Learn Hardcore Greek: Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο. - When she smiles, her face is very beautiful.

Verb: χαμογελάω / χαμογελώ = to smile
Person & tense here: 3rd person singular, present
- χαμογελάει = she smiles
- χαμογελά = she smiles

Difference in use:

χαμογελάει is more common in everyday, spoken Greek.
χαμογελά sounds a bit more formal / written, or slightly old‑fashioned in some regions.

In this sentence, you can say:

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.
Όταν χαμογελά, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.

Both are fine and mean the same thing.

Why do we use τόσο much present tense in Greek here? Does Όταν χαμογελάει mean “when she smiles (generally)” or “when she is smiling (right now)”?

Όταν χαμογελάει with the present tense usually expresses a general truth / repeated situation, just like English “when she smiles” or “whenever she smiles”.

So:

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.
≈ When(ever) she smiles, her face is very beautiful.

It does not normally mean “when she is smiling right now” (a specific moment). For a more “right now” feeling, Greek would typically add a time expression or change the structure, e.g.:

Τώρα που χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.
= Now that she is smiling, her face is very beautiful.

Why is there a comma after χαμογελάει?

In Greek, you usually put a comma between a dependent clause and the main clause, especially when the dependent clause comes first.

Dependent (subordinate) clause: Όταν χαμογελάει (When she smiles)
Main clause: το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο (her face is very beautiful)

So we write:

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.

If you reverse the order, you often don’t use a comma:

Το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο όταν χαμογελάει.
(No comma is needed here.)

Why do we say το πρόσωπό της for “her face”? Why do we need both το and της?

In Greek, possession is often expressed with:

definite article + noun + weak possessive pronoun

So:

το = the (neuter singular definite article)
πρόσωπό = face
της = her

Together: το πρόσωπό της = her face (literally: the face of her).

This is very typical Greek structure:

το σπίτι μου = my house
η μητέρα σου = your mother
το βιβλίο του = his book
το πρόσωπό της = her face
τα παιδιά μας = our children
η δουλειά σας = your work (plural/polite)
οι φίλοι τους = their friends

You cannot normally drop the article here; πρόσωπό της by itself would sound wrong. You need το πρόσωπό της.

Why does πρόσωπό have two accent marks: πρόσωπό της?

This is a classic Greek accent + enclitic rule.

Base word: πρόσωπο (face)

Normal stress: πρό‑σω‑πο → stress on the antepenultimate (third from the end).

When a word with stress on the antepenultimate is followed by a short enclitic (like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους), Greek spelling adds a second accent mark on the last syllable of the stressed word:

πρόσωπο → πρόσωπό της
άνθρωπος → άνθρωπός μου (my man / my person)
δρόμος → δρόμος σου → actually δρόμος has penultimate stress, so it stays with one accent: ο δρόμος σου

So here:

πρόσωπο (antepenultimate stress) + της (enclitic)
→ πρόσωπό της (two accents)

Pronunciation still has only one real stress (on πρό). The second accent mark is an orthographic rule, not an extra spoken stress.

Why is it πολύ όμορφο and not πολύ όμορφη or πολύ όμορφος?

The adjective must agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun it describes.

Noun: το πρόσωπο
- gender: neuter
- number: singular
- case: nominative

Adjective: όμορφος, όμορφη, όμορφο

masculine: όμορφος
feminine: όμορφη
neuter: όμορφο

Since πρόσωπο is neuter singular, we use:

πολύ όμορφο (neuter singular)

If the noun were feminine or masculine, the adjective would change:

η κοπέλα είναι πολύ όμορφη. = The girl is very beautiful.
ο άντρας είναι πολύ όμορφος. = The man is very handsome/beautiful.
το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο. = Her face is very beautiful.

Can we change the word order and say: Το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο όταν χαμογελάει? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

Το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο όταν χαμογελάει.

The meaning is essentially the same.

Subtle difference in emphasis:

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.
Emphasis starts on the condition: When she smiles, (then) her face is beautiful.
Το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο όταν χαμογελάει.
Emphasis starts on the face being beautiful, and then adds when she smiles as a condition.

In everyday conversation, both orders are natural and interchangeable here.

Could we use αν instead of όταν? For example: Αν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο?

Grammatically you can say it, but it changes the meaning.

όταν = when / whenever (talks about time, repeated situations, general truths)
αν = if (talks about condition, possibility)

So:

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.
= Whenever she smiles, her face is very beautiful. (General truth)
Αν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.
= If she is smiling, her face is very beautiful. (Conditional, more like in case she smiles / if she happens to be smiling.)

For the usual “whenever she smiles” meaning, όταν is the natural choice.

Why don’t we say αυτή? Could we say Όταν αυτή χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο?

Greek is a “pro‑drop” language: it normally omits subject pronouns (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, αυτή, etc.) if they are already clear from the verb or from context.

χαμογελάει already tells us the subject is 3rd person singular (he/she/it).
The possessive της tells us it is “she / her”.

So Greeks naturally say:

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.

You can add αυτή for contrast or emphasis, e.g.:

Όταν αυτή χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο (όχι της αδερφής της).
= When she smiles, her face is very beautiful (not her sister’s).

Without such a contrast, Όταν αυτή χαμογελάει sounds a bit marked or heavy. The neutral, everyday form is without the pronoun.

Could we say Όταν χαμογελάσει instead of Όταν χαμογελάει? What would be the difference?

Yes, you can say Όταν χαμογελάσει, but the meaning changes because of aspect.

χαμογελάει = present, imperfective aspect (focus on ongoing/repeated action)
χαμογελάσει = aorist, perfective aspect (focus on the single, completed occurrence)

Όταν χαμογελάει, το πρόσωπό της είναι πολύ όμορφο.

Describes a general, repeated situation: Whenever she smiles, her face is very beautiful.

Όταν χαμογελάσει, το πρόσωπό της θα είναι πολύ όμορφο.

Naturally goes with θα (future):
= When she smiles (that time), her face will be very beautiful.
Refers more to a specific future event: once she smiles, at that moment.

In your original sentence (a general statement), Όταν χαμογελάει is the natural choice.

How is χαμογελάει pronounced? It looks like it should have many syllables.

Spelling: χαμογελάει
Phonetic pronunciation (roughly): [xa-mo-ye-LA-ee], but in everyday speech it often sounds closer to [xa-mo-ye-LÉ] or [xamoʝeˈle] — effectively like:

χαμογελάει ≈ χαμογελά in sound.

This happens with many verbs ending in -άει:

μιλάει ≈ μιλά (he/she speaks)
γουστάρει vs γουστάρει (different pattern, but similar tendency to simplify in speech)
ρωτάει ≈ ρωτά (he/she asks)

So you will see χαμογελάει in writing, but often hear something closer to χαμογελά in everyday spoken Greek.